Uber’s purse doesn’t spook us; we’re the market leader: Ola

In what could be the first admission of discounts and pricing subsidies becoming unsustainable in cab-aggregator industry, Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola has said that predatory pricing is not healthy for the sector.

“Our objective is to sustain in the market and in the business. We have capital to do such pricing, we are doing it and are the only Indian company at this time that can manage to do that,” Pranay Jivrajka, Chief Operating Officer, Ola, told Business Standard .

Ola has said that it is confident that it is the leader in the taxi-hailing space, ahead of rival Uber India, and would become the first company to become profitable in the segment. Ola is also slashing discounts to its customers and incentives to the drivers on its platform by up to 50 percent, the cab aggregator told Business Standard.

Even as US-based parent Uber has shifted resources to India from China and announced that it will invest heavily from recenlty-raised USD 3.5-billion kitty here, Jivrajka said that Ola isn’t intimidated by the Uber loosening its purse strings.

He added that 80 percent of the company’s business has already become profitable. “If I dissect our business, certain parts are already profitable. We see ourselves as the first ones to be profitable in India as we are on the right track for that. From a sustainability perspective, we are way ahead,” he told Business Standard.